De St Remy, Elizabeth

Elizabeth De St Remy was the first woman to enroll in regular classes at Queen's. A native of Brantford, Ontario, she was educated privately by her father, a teacher, and in due course became the headmistress of a girls' school in Kingston. In the mid-1870s she asked Queen's Senate to allow her students and other young women, on her recommendation, to attend ordinary classes at the university (women had been able to attend some special classes in English since 1869, but had not been allowed to register in ordinary classes alongside men).

Curiously, Chemistry and Logic were the only subjects that De St Remy asked to be made available. The Senate granted her request on October 13, 1876, opening a limited number of courses to female enrolment. The headmistress herself was the first to take advantage of the opportunity, and in fact appears to have managed somehow to sneak in early, by registering for a course in Logic on February 1, 1876, six months before the Senate's decision.

De St Remy was Queen's 936th student and the first woman listed on the official registry of students, but she did not attend a second year of courses.

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